CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has phoned his bete noire CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal Monday evening to end longstanding lack of communication and bitterness.
UML General Secretary Shankar Pokharel has said that Oli proposed cooperation in the new coalition during their conversation. “Prime Minister (Pushpa Kamal Dahal) went to meet Nepal yesterday evening. Our chairman also phoned him. PM met him after talking with our chairman,” Pokharel has added. “The dialogue with him was positive. Unified Socialist can join the government.”
Nepal was first told that both Oli and Dahal would visit him at his residence in Koteshwore, according to central member of Unified Socialist Mohan Gautam. Oli called Nepal soon after that and proposed to move forward together. PM Dahal and Senior Vice-chairman of CPN (Maoist Center) Narayan Kaji Shrestha reached the Nepal residence around half an hour after that.
“They did not talk anything concrete. They just proposed for cooperation. They did not say anything solid about how to cooperate,” another central member told Setopati.
Nepal, who was recovering at home after suffering from seasonal flu, seemed positive after Oli’s phone call but has still not decided to immediately join the government.
The party formed after splitting from UML had held secretariat meeting after Maoist Center, UML, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) on Monday announced formation of a new coalition. The meeting decided to adopt the policy of wait and watch.
The party has again called secretariat meeting for Wednesday after formal proposal from the coalition for cooperation.
The four parties signed an eight-point deal immediately after Dahal returned back from Koteshwore. Gautam added that Nepal has yet to give words about joining the coalition and he feels that joining now would seem like bowing down to that deal.
“Nepal has been calling for cooperation among left parties, and revival of CPN (that was formed after unification of UML and Maoist Center) with all the sides realizing their mistakes. But the current coalition has not formed in that manner. The coalition has not even presented its foundation. The modality of how it will move forward has also not been seen. There is, therefore, no relevance of us joining the coalition stepping on the deal for power already reached between the parties,” a leader close to Nepal told Setopati.
Dahal and Oli have agreed to equally share the remaining four-year term as PM to end any hopes of Nepal becoming PM.
Dahal had quit the pre-election alliance with Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (Unified Socialist) on December 25, 2022 and became prime minister (PM) with support of CPN-UML, Rastriya Swatantra Party, RPP, Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), Janamat Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party after Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba refused to make him PM first.
Oli had assured NC that UML will not ally with Maoist Center at any cost and would instead ally with NC to form the new government to encourage Deuba to break the agreement to make Dahal PM first.
Dahal and Oli had agreed to equally share the five-year term even then.
But the coalition was broken in just two months before the election for president around a year ago. NC, Maoist Center, JSP and Unified Socialist had then decided to revive the pre-election alliance.
Unified Socialist Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal was to become PM for a year in between the two-year terms of Dahal and Deuba as per that agreement.
The latest deal between Dahal and Oli has ended any chances of Nepal becoming PM despite Oli and Dahal inviting Nepal to join the new ruling coalition.
UML has 79 seats in the House of Representatives (HoR), Maoist Center 32, and RSP 21, and JSP 12, and the four parties together can muster the 138 seats necessary to form the government.
